Stephen Fry makes cheeky dig at Prince William during Royal Variety Performance

Stephen Fry made a funny dig at Prince William during the Royal Variety Performance this evening. The TV star and actor was playing the part of Lady Bracknell from The Importance of Being Earnest during the charity event.

As part of the skit, Lady Bracknell was discussing theatre etiquette, such as turning your phone off and not rustling crisp packets or noisy food during a performance. Discussion soon turned to specific outfits to wear to the theatre.

Chatting about "public decorum", Stephen joked about people wearing "dinner jackets, which is the correct attire for events, dinners, and popping along to watch Aston Villa ... lose". The camera then panned to William, who was laughing at the joke about his club.

Prince William is a huge fan of Aston Villa, a club he has supported since he was young. During a chat on The Reluctant Traveler With Eugene Levy, where he was asked about his love for the sport, William says: "I’m a football fan, yes Eugene."

Quizzed on who he supports, he added: "I support Aston Villa, you heard of them? Tom Hanks is a big fan." As Eugene wonders if that might be where he had heard of the team, William replies: "You might have heard of Aston Villa from there.

"And I love the story that Tom tells about why he suddenly supported Aston Villa because when he was looking for a team to support, he saw the words Aston Villa, and thought that sounded quite like a sunshine nice villa place to go."

The pair then share a laugh, before William quips: "When actually, if he turns up to Birmingham, it’s not that sunshiney." Earlier this year, William took his son Prince George with him to watch the team take on Paris Saint-Germain.

When asked why he wanted to bring George to the game, he said: "I thought: You know what, it’s been 43 years since anything like this has happened in my generation as a Villa fan, and I want George to experience a night out away from home in a big European competition. I hope it’s not 43 years until the next one happens, but I think those memories are really important to create and bringing him along tonight is a big deal for me."

He insisted that he wanted to follow a team that would provide an "emotional rollercoaster". He said back in 2015: "A long time ago at school I got into football big time. I was looking around for clubs. All my friends at school were either Man United fans or Chelsea fans and I didn’t want to follow the run of the mill teams.

"I wanted to have a team that was more mid-table that could give me more emotional rollercoaster moments. Aston Villa’s always had a great history. I have got friends of mine who support Aston Villa and one of the first FA Cup games I went to was Bolton vs Aston Villa back in 2000. Sadly, Villa went on to lose to Chelsea.

"It was fantastic, I sat with all the fans with my red beanie on, and I was sat with all the Brummie fans and had a great time. It was the atmosphere, the camaraderie and I really felt that there was something I could connect with."

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